Songs Of Blades and Heroes - solo campaign report #2 The Breakthrough

[6mmfan]

The is a second battle report - you can see the first one here https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=130745.0

For the second game I used the campaign system in Songs of Deeds and Glory and morphed these 2 games into a mini campaign. If the humans succeed in this game, then the 3rd game will be a raid on the Gnoll village. The 3rd game will be a rescue mission of the Priestesses of Argamite, and recover some of the Kings honour.

The Human were able to recover Sir Barnaby after the first battle as the Gnolls were more interested in looting the temple, but the two human warriors did not survive. With the spoils of war the Gnoll Chieftain used some of his loot to buy a savage but well trained Wolf, and the rest of his warband returned for the second battle.



The lands I rolled were hill land and the scenario was called Breakthrough. The Gnolls are trying to defend the crossings and prevent the forces of the Purple king from reaching their village. 

The setup
The terrain consisted of a river with ford and bridge, ruins, hills and a patch of trees. The ruins are cursed with a precursor ruin (roll to see the effect) which are a secondly objective for the humans.




The Gnolls deployed on the opposite side of the river with the intention of defending the river crossings.




The troops of the Purple King arrive (with a pack mule) and the leader gives group move orders to the archers and warriors.




The Gnolls react and 2 warriors and a Champion move onto the bridge to block the way. But the archer fires at the Gnoll and shoots the Gnoll through the eye, scoring a gruesome kill.




The other Gnoll is incensed by this and charges the group of humans while the Champion fails 2 morale checks and retreats! Even though the Gnoll is outnumbered, he manages to recoil the attacker.




Sir Barnaby decides to show the others how its done, and dispatches the Gnoll, while the Gnoll champion returns to guard the bridge after some stern words from the Chieftain.




In the next turn one of the Archers moves forward and uses an aimed shot to kill a Gnoll archer on the other side of the river bank. The Humans had Long ranged attacks while the Gnolls were Medium ranged weapons, so the Gnolls were disadvantaged.




After some more fighting on the bridge, the Gnolls became more aggressive. One of their archers knocked down a human archer and a warrior and the Wolf raced across the fjord to take advantage of the situation. You can see my movement stick with the long move of the Wolf.




The archer failed to activate at a crucial time and was killed, and the other archer was left feeling exposed!




Meanwhile on the bridge the Gnoll Champion was holding off the humans forces single handedly.




The human archer retreated closer to his friends and loosened off a shot at the Wolf but missed. The Wolf charged but lost the combat and was killed!




Back on the bridge, Sir Barnaby (in white) attacked the Gnoll but was knocked down, as the Crusader forces behind him looked on in shock.



They were even more shocked as Sir Barnaby suffered a gruesome kill, and most of the Crusaders retreated back 2 moves.




But one brave soldier remained behind to battle the Gnoll Champion.



More reinforcements on both sides dribbled in, and then one of the Gnoll warriors suffered a gruesome kill.



This was too much for the Gnoll leader, who failed 2 morale checks and almost left the table!



The fighting continue on the bridge and eventually the Gnoll leader returned, but both the Gnoll champion and a Crusader warrior were knocked down.




After a few more rounds of combat only the Gnoll leader and Champion remain to defend the bridge, against a the Crusader leader and a warrior.




Another Crusader warrior is gutted by the Gnoll champion (who is having a good day after a shaky start) and this gruesome kill is too much for the Crusader leader, who again fails 2 morale tests. The only other remaining human at this point is an archer, and they both decide to retreat off the battlefield.






That was the end of the game and the campaign as the Crusader forces (controlled by me) had lost both battles. I had planned a third battle to rescue the Priestesses, but the narrative made sense to end the campaign with a loss to me! This was another great solo game and although it was a bit of a slugfest on the bridge, there were still some great and funny moments, with both leaders having shaky morale at critical times.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Brilliant report. Excellent figures, particularly the brushwork on the Wolf and the Gnoll Champion’s cloak. I have not yet cracked painting like that. Great table. Sounds like it was a fun game and I was surprised to find myself cheering for the Gnolls.

[boneio]

Excellent report again, thank you 

I wish the 'good guys' would win one 

[The Rock]

Nice report

[Mr.J]

Really nice! Your terrain is cracking. How did you do the river?

[Mr. White]

Agreed on all points. This minis and this table look great. Cool session!

The lichen/moss "bushes" ...do you glue them on to the board/scatter terrain or are they just placed on to be moved around if a mini needs to go in that space?

[mirjeki]

Lovely scenery, setup, miniatures and report!

How are you finding the SoBaH rules? I've tried them a few times but find that it just ends up being a roll-fest with not a lot happening when you get to melee combat. A lot of nothings get rolled when you have low quality troops, but I might just not be creating my soldiers/lists in a fun way.

[Seal]

We’ve always enjoyed these rules. Great write up and cool looking table and miniatures.

[6mmfan]

Cheers, the Gnolls I painted in a single batch of 20 during lockdown last year. It was a hard way to do it but I'm happy with the results.

Really nice! Your terrain is cracking. How did you do the river?

Its very thin plywood covered with caulk which i mixed some blue blue/green paint. Then I added a few lighter layers followed by a gloss varnish. Unfortunately it has warped slightly which is annoying

Agreed on all points. This minis and this table look great. Cool session!

The lichen/moss "bushes" ...do you glue them on to the board/scatter terrain or are they just placed on to be moved around if a mini needs to go in that space?

No, I have a bag of it and I just threw some clumps down after the terrain was setup. Its great to cover joins or extend other terrain pieces. I didn't really count it during the game but i think only one or two figures wen through any lichen.

Lovely scenery, setup, miniatures and report!

How are you finding the SoBaH rules? I've tried them a few times but find that it just ends up being a roll-fest with not a lot happening when you get to melee combat. A lot of nothings get rolled when you have low quality troops, but I might just not be creating my soldiers/lists in a fun way.

Yes it can be a of a slugfest (parts of this game were), and you have to use power blows and outnumber opponents as much as possible. I find a more powerful hero/monster with higher Q and C does most of the killing, and the others are there to outnumber the opponent. Also group moving low quality troops into combat so they all arrive or none do!

I kept these warband pretty vanilla (I was going to use a mounted Knight on the Human side), but I'd suggest a variety of troops/races and a good mix of special rules.

I'm planning to use more special rules from the Advanced rules to make shooting better and help differentiate better between figures who are armed with different weapons and shields.